Jojo Goes Chasing Waterfalls [Photos]

In spite of the warnings issued in the '90s by TLC, chasing waterfalls isn't a bad thing. It's where I go every other year or so when I need to get away. Far away.

This year vacation took me up into the Upper Peninsula in search of some well known and not so well known waterfalls. I went solo, so forgive me if there aren't any photos of me (aside from my feet). I'm just not a selfie kind of person.

I always start out each northern vacation by climbing the Pierce Stocking dune in Sleeping Bear. I didn't beat my all time record of 15 minutes getting up the 500 meter monster, but I did get up it in a respectable 20 minutes.

The first stop was Michigan's most well know waterfall, Tahquamenon, which I caught nicely backlit by the setting sun.

The next morning brought me to Sauble Falls, just west of Grand Marais.

Hiking out farther west into the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, I got a double dip on one six mile hike, hitting Chapel Falls in the Hiawatha National Forest, and then the Chapel River spilling into Lake Superior at Chapel Rock along the North Country Trail.

Tuesday brought me to one of my favortie places in the Upper Peninsula, Canyon Falls, just south of Baraga on US 41. Located down a trail from a Rest Area, you can pick up the North Country Trail here into the Sturgeon River Gorge, one of Michigan's remote treasures.

From there I headed down some National Forest Service gravel roads into the Sturgeon River Gorge Wilderness area, and took a trail into the Gorge to Sturgeon Falls. The river is cascading down the gorge pretty fast at this point, and while not Michigan's highest waterfall, it is the loudest and the one you can feel the most energy come off of.

Last, but not least, I hit Agate Falls out by Bruce Crossing along the Ontanagon River. Once a resort with cabins aand magnificent views of the Falls, it is now relegated to being a roadside park where you're limited to this chopped off view from the top.

However, if you're a pretty good climber, and don't mind scrambling down some clay cliffs, you can make it to the bottom of the Falls and get a much more impressive view.

I wound up my vacation by spending a couple of days mountain biking in Copper Harbor, which has become one of the best mountain biking areas in the nation. The view from Brockway Mountain is always stunning, but the trip down by bike is more than a little harrowing.

You may notice that while there isn't a lot of color yet in the trees, the maples have already begun their turn to bright red.

The next to last day there, I was treated to this glorious sunrise along Lake Fanny Hooe in Wilkins State Park, before the weather turned on me and I had to set off back home.